“Me and the two other girls behind Kew worked at the Barnes & Noble in Forest Hills. After that store and the Bayside one closed, Queens only had one general-interest bookstore. We kept seeing people walk up to the Barnes & Noble doors trying to go in. So we knew it mattered. Our store has a large children’s section, plus Queens authors up front, like Southern Cross the Dog, by Bill Cheng ($15). Writers popped in before we even opened to drop off business cards.”

Side by SideTwo big brands have on-site custom-embroidery stations, so no two sixth-graders will have the same denim jacket or pencil pouch.